Agora is the story of a Greek woman named Hypatia (Rachel Weisz) and her search for scientific explanations during a period of religious clashes among paganism, Judaism, and Christianity.
Agora is based on a screenplay written by Spanish filmmakers Alejandro Amenábar (who also directed the movie) and Mateo Gil.
Indeed she was. Hypatia [born in the mid-300s CE] was an Egyptian mathematician and philosopher who was schooled in Athens and, as a teacher, she taught Neoplatonism at the Platonist school in Alexandria, Egypt. She was killed in March 415 CE by a Christian mob as part of a political struggle between the Prefect Orestes and the city's bishop, Cyril.
"Agora" refers to an open-spaced gathering place, especially a marketplace in Ancient Greece. It is similar in meaning to the Roman "forum". Much of the movie takes place in the agora. (The word "agoraphobia" may be more familiar to more people, and agoraphobia is understood outside of the clinical context to be condition had by individuals who intensely prefer to stay away from open spaces (or places beyond the comfort of their own homes) if not experiencing anxiety over being so exposed in the pertinent manner, like an opposite of claustrophobia.)
The wanderers are the planets Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn, the five planets visible to the eye. To the eye, the stars are considered "fixed" because their path through the sky changes so slowly that it is not noticeable in a lifetime. The planets "wander" amongst them on a noticeable and predictable course, sometimes appearing in the morning and sometimes in the evening. Uranus wasn't discovered until 1781, Neptune in 1846, and Pluto (long before being designated a dwarf planet) in 1930.
According to the movie, she first believed the geocentric theory of Ptolemy [90 CE - 168 CE] that the sun and the wandering planets revolved around the earth in a perfect circle. Near the end of the movie, however, she was coming to the conclusion that the earth might also be a wanderer around a heliocentric sun, an idea that was first expressed some 600 years earlier by the Greek astronomer Aristarchus [310 BCE - 230 BCE] but wasn't put forth again until the 15th century by the Prussian astronomer Copernicus [1473-1543]. Hypatia also postulates the possibility of Earth's orbit around the Sun being elliptical rather than a perfect circle. This point is reinforced by the final shot where we pull up out of the skylight at the centre of the library and away from the Earth. The last thing we see with any clarity is the skylight, at an angle, forming an ellipse.
That was an aulos, an ancient, double-reeded, Greek wind instrument. Although it resembled a flute, it had a sound more akin to a bagpipe.
In the early days of Christianity, the parabolani was a brotherhood of Christians who willingly cared for the sick and the burial of the dead and also served as attendants, police, and bodyguards to the local bishops.
In 395 CE, the vast Roman empire was divided. The ancient Roman empire seated in Rome became known as the Western Roman Empire. The Eastern Roman Empire, also known as the Byzantine Empire, was seated in Byzantium (later Constantinople, now Istanbul) Turkey.
Orestes (Oscar Isaac) attempts to warn Hypatia about the accusations Cyril (Sami Samir) has raised against her, accusations of "ungodliness" and "witchcraft," but Hypatia refuses to be publically baptized and give up her right to independent thought. As she is walking in the agora, she is apprehended by the parabolani and taken away. Davus (Max Minghella) follows but can do nothing to stop them from defiling her in public and calling her names like "witch" and "whore." The parabolani strip her naked and suggest flaying her skin with their knives. Trying to stop them, Davus advises them not to stain their hands with impure blood, so they decide to stone her instead. When the parabolani go off to find stones, Davus takes Hypatia in his arms, sobbing because of his love for her while smothering her with his hand. The last thing Hypatia sees is the blue sky through a circle in the roof, which appears as an ellips from her point of view. By the time the parabolani return with their stones, Hypatia is dead. Davus tells them that she has fainted, and they proceed to pelt her. In the final scene, the camera pans upwards into the sky, and a caption reads: Hypatia's mutilated body was dragged through the streets and burnt on a pyre. Orestes disappeared, never to be seen again. Cyril seized power of Alexandra. Much later, Cyril was declared a saint and doctor of the Church. Although none of Hypatia's works have survived, it is known that she was an outstanding astronomer and renowned for her mathematical studies on conic curves. 1,200 years later, in the 17th century, the astronomer Johannes Kepler discovered that one of these curves, the ellipse, governs the motion of the planets.
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- How long is Agora?2 hours and 7 minutes
- When was Agora released?May 28, 2010
- What is the IMDb rating of Agora?7.1 out of 10
- Who stars in Agora?
- Who wrote Agora?
- Who directed Agora?
- Who was the composer for Agora?
- Who was the producer of Agora?
- Who was the executive producer of Agora?
- Who was the cinematographer for Agora?
- Who was the editor of Agora?
- Who are the characters in Agora?Hypatia, Davus, Cyril, and Hypatia's Disciple
- What is the plot of Agora?A historical drama set in Roman Egypt, concerning a slave who turns to the rising tide of Christianity in the hope of pursuing freedom while falling in love with his mistress, the philosophy and mathematics professor Hypatia of Alexandria.
- What was the budget for Agora?$70 million
- How much did Agora earn at the worldwide box office?$39.5 million
- How much did Agora earn at the US box office?$619,000
- What is Agora rated?R
- What genre is Agora?Adventure, Biographical, Drama, Historical Drama, Historical, and Romance
- How many awards has Agora won?11 awards
- How many awards has Agora been nominated for?26 nominations
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